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Topic: Rally on the River in Exile 2013 (Read 1378 times)

As many of you know the last and 10th Annual Rally on the River was held in 2011.A few of us frequented many of those rally's and were left with hole in the end of the summer that the rally used to fill. So after numerous e-mails back and fourth between the rally people Mike Baird took out a map and marked the furthest East person (me) and the furthest West person (him) and half way in between was somewhere roughly around Omaha Nebraska. Nothing against the fine folks that live in Nebraska but if I wanted to ride straight flat roads through cornfields I could just stay in Michigan. Mike just moved out to Colorado to get away from the straight flat roads through the corn in southern Illinois. So after a subtle hint that the Black hills were just a bit northwest of there the title on the e-mails became "Sturgis 2013". The date was set at the first full weekend of September to miss all the Sturgis rally stuff and the family vacationers.

I left at 2:00 am Sunday the 1st so I could hook up with the 9:00 am ferry to get across Lake Michigan. It was a mix of wet fog and drizzle all the way across Michigan but cleared up real nice by the time I got to the ferry. 4 hours later I arrived in Wisconsin and had to cross that state to meet up with Bob Bezin on the western side of that state. The next morning Bob, his friend John and I headed West. We headed a bit south and rode across Iowa on 2 lane blacktops. Spent the night in a city park/petting zoo/waterpark camped right behind the signs that said "No Camping Behind Sign".Lot's of beer and food that night.

The next morning we took off and rode into and across South Dakota. By the time we got to the Badlands it was hot and nasty out. Couldn't get through there fast enough. Got to the cabin Bob had arranged for us Tues evening.Lot's of beer and food that night.

Wed. morning we went for a ride. Took some back roads up to spearfish canyon and then took some back roads back to the cabin. I think we rode like 112 miles and it took us 8 hours or so. Lotsa twisties and lotsa pic breaks. Lot's of beer and food that night.

8 people from 5 different states. Pretty good showing for something that started with a few e-mails.I also want to note that Chris Edwards rode his AVL Classic there, put a ton of miles on it while we were there and made it back home intact. The iron butt toast was to him. As a side note he rode it all the way from Kansas to Minnesota for the Lanesboro Rally last June. An animal in the saddle is he.Lot's of beer and food that night.

Thursday afternoon we rode down to Mt Rushmore and got screwed out of 11 bucks ea so we could see some dead presidents. We went, we looked, we took pics, we ate some ice cream and we booked. Lot's of beer and food that night.

Friday, a day of riding. All of us rode down and did the Custer State park thing. The Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road and some others took up the better part of the day. The Iron Mountain Road took the first casualty of the rally. Toby's Guzzi had gotten real hot on the slow twisty road and when we stopped for some pics it vaporlocked and would not start. It had started raining so he got on the back of Mikes bike and rode down to Keystone for some lunch. That rain by the way was the only real rain I saw since I left Michigan. There was a sign hanging on the wall outside the restaurant we ate at that said,

Lot's of beer and food that night. And that clear stuff in the mason jar.

Saturday, another day of riding. Took some 2 lane blacktops up through Vanocker Canyon into Sturgis, went to the motorcycle museum and got some lunch at the Knuckle Saloon. Now I feel like a real biker. Then we went through Spearfish Canyon again (going the other direction) and down 385 to our next causality of the weekend. The handlebars fell off the overheating Guzzi (sorry Toby). Aside from a few wobbles Toby brought it to a stop from 60 mph on a mountain road without flopping it. We walked the road back a 1/4 mile and found all the washers, bolts and rubber bits to get it all back together and continued down to Nemo Rd. and back into Rapid City. That night we had a buffalo roast that Bernita the wonderful lady that owned the cabin cooked for us. And more beer. And that clear stuff in the mason jar.

Sunday, People started packing up and going home. By noon or so there was just Bob, John and myself left. Bob was a bit burned out so John and I went back down to Custer and did the wildlife loop. Kinda uneventful after the last few days but I did have some burro try to lick off the bugs on the front of my bike. Would have let him finish but he started to scratch himself on the turn signal so I had to chase him off.

Monday, Bob and John left to go back home and from what I understand didn't make it too far when the mechanical gods pulled the rug out from under them. John had a short on the horn wire that blew a fuse and killed the bike and right after that one of Bob's coils died. After all that they made it back home intact.I still had a week and a half left of vacation so I left a few hours after they did and headed over into Wyoming and Montana and just kinda drifted back home.I got home Thursday night with a total of 3,337 miles for the trip. Bought the bike right before I left and racked up 3,943 miles on it in 3.5 weeks.

This was my 1st long distance road trip and I am hooked. It was great seeingthese guys since the LAST Rally on the River in 2011. CJ pretty much nailed it, good friends, good riding, good food, and good drinks... - Mike

and then after I left these guys, I headed west to Dubois, Wyoming to meet my wife at my son's place. He had to work so that left us to ride The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone... Beauty!! Then back South to Colorado for me, 1st 5 hours riding in COLD, PISSY, Wyoming rain.... 2,400 miles for me already making plans for 2014 and The Rally on the River in exile.... - Mike

"+1 on that. Did you ride the awesome 16A up to Rushmore? How'd you like those sections where the road circles around on top of itself to get up those grades? A fantastic area." Oh yes, The tunnel just above that corkscrew is where the Guzzi diedthe 1st time( sorry Toby). yea, we really tore it up coming down that part.

« Last Edit: October 02, 2013, 04:18:02 AM by baird4444 »

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